Could Jaws really be living in Cornwall?

It's a predictable as rainstorms in the summer- the 'sighting' of sharks off our beaches. But this time there is a BIG difference...

There is no disputing it. I have a shark on the end of my line. Right now, everyone in these parts is a shark expert, including me.

And with its fins, its teeth and its sandpaper skin, this thing is definitely a member of the scariest family in the sea. It puts up a vicious fight all the way into the boat.

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As a novice, I am rather chuffed with my catch. But this specimen is not going to impress anyone else.

North Cornwall, we are told, is being "terrorised" by a pair of Great White sharks and my fish is certainly not what has brought a media circus descending on the resort of St Ives.

I have landed the most junior member of the shark family, a lesser spotted dogfish two feet in length. It would be lethal if I were a mackerel, but it is not remotely threatening to the tiniest swimmer.

It is certainly going to take a lot more than this before any holidaymakers are genuinely bothered. From the beaches and the rockpools to the arty cafes and chi-chi restaurants, everyone in St Ives is talking about "the shark story".

And yet there is not the slightest whiff of panic.

Round here, the reactions range from hilarity to supreme nonchalance. If they ever tried to film a remake of Jaws in these parts, it would be a comedy.

"Oh, there are man-eaters in these waters all right," says Chris Lowe, my skipper for the day. "They don't call me Nine Toe Lowe for nothing," he adds, nodding at the gap on the end of his left foot. "But it wasn't a shark that ate my toe, it was a conger eel. Now they are evil."

It was four days ago that The Sun reported the "sighting" of a Great White 200 yards off Porthmeor Beach, a pretty stretch of sand on the edge of St Ives. A tourist with a camcorder filmed what he believed was the killer breed circling the shore and a vintage summer shark scare was under way.

Two days later, another member of the public produced a separate video of another dorsal fin off the same beach.

Yesterday, a shark "expert" declared that the shark in question was a female which would no doubt have a bloke in tow.

So, there are now supposed to be a couple of psycho killers out there, the marine world's answer to Bonnie and Clyde cruising the Clotted Cream Riviera in search of prey.

The story has gone round the world and back.

My neighbours at breakfast are a German TV crew who have been rather amused by the laid-back British reaction to this apparent death threat off a teeming seafront.

Just as the "Jaws on our shores" story is a great British summer ritual, so, too, is the response. As usual, marine experts are quick to point out that there is not a single recorded incident of any shark eating a human in UK waters.

The big threat this week is a higher-than-usual tide.

Conservationists have issued the mandatory reminder that sharks are an endangered species who are more afraid of us than we are of them.

The videos have met with utter derision from marine biologists, British shark-watching organisations and local officials, all of whom insist they show nothing more than the presence of a harmless planktoneating basking shark.

"On a scale of one to ten, there is a zero possibility these pictures show a Great White because one shows a dolphin and the other shows a basking shark," says Plymouth-based Dr David Sims of the Marine Biological Association.

"I wish there were Great Whites in our waters - I have been diving with them in South Africa and they are incredible," says Richard Peirce, chairman of the Cornwall based Shark Trust. "But this is simply not credible evidence of a Great White."

I am sure he is right. But, well, you never know...

Therein lies the eternal power of the shark scare story: there is always a first time. No one is ruling out that a Great White might be here after all.

In the Seventies, a Great White was caught in the Bay of Biscay, just 300 nautical miles (a stroll in shark terms) from British waters.

A respected marine biologist is adamant he saw one three years ago while diving off the west coast of Scotland. Great Whites love eating seals and there are plenty of those there.

And whatever the statistics and the boffins say, nothing gets me swimming faster in open water than rewinding scenes from Jaws through my head.

"I've seen sharks all my life but never a white one - although I can't say it will never happen," says Chris Lowe as we cruise out of Newquay towards St Ives in his boat, the Atlantic Diver.

Years ago, he used to take people shark-fishing off these shores. Now, he organises "eco-friendly" sharkwatching tours.

"I often see blue sharks and the odd mako shark, but they're never any trouble," he says.

It's a stunning day - a breeze is scratching the surface without stirring up a swell. Chris is trying to spot basking sharks and we chase the clumps of seaweed which signal the plankton trails.

But there are no dorsal fins out here today. We turn towards St Ives and Porthmeor Beach where hundreds of people are sploshing in the water, an easy lunch should Bonnie and Clyde drop in.

The sea is certainly teeming with life. I drop a line over the back, and within less than a minute, two mackerel have attached themselves to it. In ten minutes we have a dozen. If we can't find any sharks, then let's find the real predators round here - the dreaded conger eels.

Chris anchors a few miles out to sea above a World War I wreck and we use our mackerel as bait. Chris's weight has not even dropped to the seabed when a healthy 4lb pollock grabs his hook.

As Chris recalls the gruesome tale of his fateful encounter with the toe-eating conger nine years ago, I am not sure I want to catch one.

"We had this eel in a large bucket on the boat. I was walking around in flip-flops when it leaped out and bit my foot. Suddenly, there was just this bit of bone and blood everywhere. We had to cut off its head to get my toe back but the doctors couldn't sew it back on."

Something is wrestling with the line. Eventually, my lesser-spotted dogfish appears. It's a feisty creature and Chris warns me to hold it firmly or its skin will rip the flesh from my hands.

After a triumphal photograph, I chuck it back. A few minutes later, something really big grabs Chris's bait.

It almost snaps the rod before everything goes dead.

We pull up a line that should be strong enough to hang on to a decent-sized shark. Something has not merely grabbed the mackerel off the hook but bitten right through the steel wire. Whatever it was, frankly, it is welcome to stay down there where it belongs.

Back on shore, I track down the Mayor of St Ives, Bill Fry. His counterpart in Jaws is Larry Vaughan, the neurotic mayor who desperately plays down all the shark rumours with tragic results.

Bill, on the other hand, is a model of calm. "I can honestly say that not one person has come to me and said they are worried," says the Liberal Democrat councillor as he relaxes in his snooker club.

"After the weather we have had this summer, we badly need all the tourists we can get. I don't think this story has done us any harm - yet. But if the publicity gets out of control, then it might hit trade."

Does he believe it could be a Great White? "You can never rule these things out but I'm sure these pictures show a basking shark."

Around St Ives, the view is equally sceptical. At the Natural Balance Surf Company, manager Luke Jannaway, 31, says he has surfed close to sharks all over the world. "Ignore them and they ignore you," he says. "But there's no Great White here."

His customers agree. "A Great White? Rubbish!" says Pete Mortensen, 14, from Carlisle, who has dropped in to buy a new swimming kit. "It's like the Loch Ness Monster."

Let us hope that Bonnie and Clyde, like Nessie, remain firmly in the myth category. The rumours and hype may irritate some people. But aren't they preferable to solid proof?